The Electronics Age began as far back as the late 1800’s and, like many major advances in civilization, was the result of the separate efforts of a number of individuals whose actions, collectively, set the stage for change. In this case the stage for change was set primarily by 4 individuals whose creative actions took […]
President Obama signed the American Invents Act at Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia on September 16, 2011. The new patent law will replace the current “first to invent” system with a “first inventor to file” system. So now it is more important than ever to be the first person to file a patent […]
Hello everyone, my name is Brendan Lillis, Registered Patent Attorney out of Buffalo, New York, and co-founder of PatentHome. We are a full-service intellectual property law firm, which means we specialize in all things related to patents, trademarks, and copyrights. It is our goal to help protect your ideas, while providing excellent one-on-one service and […]
My time interning at Kloss, Stenger & LoTempio this summer has been filled with new experiences. From filing trademark applications to familiarizing myself with google adwords, performing a patent search to writing blog posts, I have learned so much. I realized how valuable intellectual property can be, and how important it is to properly protect […]
On August 16, 2011 the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued patent number 8,000,000 to Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. but even though it was number 8,000,000 it wasn’t really the 8 millionth patent. The first United States patent was issued, signed by George Washington himself, in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for his […]
My name is Alyssa Helfer, I’m a senior at Northwestern University and am hoping to go to law school after I graduate. Interning at the Kloss, Stenger and LoTempio law firm this summer has been filled with new experiences; most recently, this included attempting to prepare a trademark application to file on the USPTO website […]
In my last column on this blog I shared some of my conversation with my neighbor, Jim, about suitable subject matter for a patentable invention. (If you missed that column, you can find it in the archives of this blog.) I also mentioned that, since Jim is an independent inventor and interested in getting a […]
During a career of nearly 40 years as a patent examiner, a patent agent and a teacher of patent law, I’ve been asked countless questions about patents and inventions. Now that I’m semi-retired, I find I’m still getting questions about patents and inventions – from friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and people I meet socially. It happened […]
WHAT A PATENT IS The answer to the question “What is a patent?’ may vary greatly, depending on the person answering the question and that person’s association with patents or the patent system. There are three basic characteristics commonly attributed to patents: The contractual characteristic. In viewing the patent as a contract, the focus is […]